A Discussion on Realism and Impressionism Essay Example for Free

A sermon on Realism and Impressionism EssayThe world was changing dramatically in the late 18th century. In North America, the British colonies had successfully revolted against the English empire and formed the United States of America. Fueled by this success, Europeans began to facial expression a strong desire for change, most notably in France, where the search for liberty led to the cover cut rotation, which lasted from 1788 until 1799. At the same time, populations were st finesseing to rapidly expand, and science and technology were producing the engines and tools to make the Industrial Revolution possible. It was in this atmosphere of change that a new artistic bowel front line was born a movement that wanted to view the world around it in a different way. Prior to this era, works of art uncouthly exemplified idealized scenes from historic as yetts, or placed the cause in larger-than-life, heroic circumstances. Artists of the new movement wanted to show life as it really existed its triumphs as well as failures its beauty as well as its baser attributes. These artists were a part of the new movement Realism.See to a greater extent Analysis of Starbucks drinking chocolate company employees essayAs the name of the movement implies, Realism was an artistic movement toward attempting to capture the overthrow of the artwork in a true-to-life manner. Stated simply, realist artists sought to produce accurate and objective submitals of the ordinary, observable world, with a focus on the lower classes and with a critique of the established social and political revisal (MindEdge, 2012). Considered by many to be the father of Realism is the French painter Gustave Courbet (1819 1877).In his life-sized portrayal of two workmen he met along the roadside called The Stonebreakers (1849-50), we see the hallmarks of the Realist movement. (Courbet, 1850) Not only does Courbet pay c areful oversight to the detail in order to paint as he sees it, but he treats the subject case with almost reverent respect. The laborers are not being extolled as heroic figures in an epic struggle, as would be expected in a more Romantic-style work of art. Instead, the two workmen are seen busy at a most ordinary task, that of breaking and moving heavy stones by the roadside.The simple act of everyday, heavy(p) labor is glorified and given a dignity that transcends heroism. This new-found, at least for the time period, respect for the common person and his or her struggles and successes in everyday life, as well as the desire to depict those struggles and successes with accuracy, are the true hallmarks of Realism. The paint had hardly dried on the early works of the Realist movement when another convocation of artists began to focus on a different aspect of artistic expression.This new technique was begun by the French artist Edouard Manet (1832 1883). Manet was a Realist painter who also wanted to bring truth to the color and light knotted in h is paintings. Manet and others of this new style had found that, rather than mixing colors on the palette and applying this intermixture to the thronevas, by juxtaposing different colors close together on the canvas, a more intense change could be produced. This caused the painting have an almost unfinished look to them, especially when viewed from close range.This effect, along with the handling of light on the subjects to capture time, motion and emotion in daily life and nature, is a samara element of Impressionism. One of the most well-kn avouch of the Impressionist painters was Claude Monet (1840 1926). His work, Impression, Sunrise (1872), is quite characteristic of the Impressionist movement. (Monet, 1872) This image of a harbor scene in France is done in very loose brushstrokes, suggesting the subject affaire rather than clearly defining it.The painting creates a feeling of water and boats in the early morning. This interference of the subject and the light illuminati ng it gave art critic Louis Leroy the idea, in 1872, to ridicule the painting using its own name against it implying that the impression he perceived was that the work was incomplete. While his critique has not proven to bear out the test of time, his description of the work did help to label the artistic movement Impressionism. How do Realism and Impressionism equality? The choice of subject matter is often similar.Artists of both schools often chose scenes from everyday life and attempted to portray them on the canvas. While Courbets, The Stonebreakers, does show us clearly delineated characters in a realistically portrayed scene, and Monets, Impression, Sunrise, imparts the feeling of the scene and allows the viewer to build context around that feeling, both paintings pay homage to a common, uncomplicated activity with a certain dignity and respect. In this sense, Impressionism can be seen as a natural extension of the Realist movement.Impressionism took Realism in another dire ction, however, with its unique treatment of light on the subject matter and in its coloring technique. This allowed Impressionist painters to capture feelings of motion, time and emotion in their art date continuing the Realists quest to examine the beauty in everyday life. As can be seen with an examination of the various movements in art history, Realism artists reacted to the fanciful, larger-than-life depictions of subjects in the Romantic period by turning toward detailed, as you see it renderings of the life and times of the common man and his surroundings.Impressionism, resonating with the tenets of Realism, took the movement even and, seeking to portray, not only life as we know it, but also life as we experience it. This opening up of the artistic mind to the possibilities of greater experimentation and more liberal viewpoints can be seen as the first salvo in an assault on the sterile, regimented ideology of the more traditional schools of artistic thought. The cracks c reated in the armor of traditional art styles allowed for future generations of artists to explore even further into their imaginations in order to redefine art in the modern era.